KUALA LUMPUR – Zhanna Samsonova, a vegan raw food influencer who lived on an ‘extreme’ diet of exotic fruit for the last decade, has reportedly died somewhere in Malaysia on July 21, from starvation and exhaustion.
Known on social media as Zhanna D’Art, her diet consisted of fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices, but she would also not eat or drink for days when she practiced ‘dry fasting’, according to a report from the Daily Mail.
Even more, Samsonova reportedly stopped drinking water more than six years ago, replacing it with fruit and vegetable juices.
She had over 10,000 followers on Instagram, who followed her travels across Asia over the past 17 years.
Her official cause of death has not yet been revealed, however her mother told Russian newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan that she died from a cholera-like infection that was made worse by her extreme diet. Her family is in the process of bringing the body back to Russia.
However, the Daily Mail report did not indicate the Malaysian location of the influencer at the time of her death.
Samsonova’s mother told local news outlets that the blogger was supposed to return home to Kazan on the day of her death.
The mother, named Vera, said she did not approve of her daughter’s eating habits and tried to sway her to having a more balanced diet.
Samsonova was previously a vegan, but moved to a purely raw food diet consisting of vegetables and fruit because she considered it healthy, and would share recipes on her social media.
On said social media, her physical deterioration could be seen as she became increasingly emaciated in the videos she would share, with meals consisting of just fruit or vegetables, with various plant-based juices.
“Despite the fact that I cook fancy raw dishes, I eat very simply myself. My food is simple, no oil, no salt, no dehydrated food and no protein,” Samsonova wrote in a post.
Friends and family warned the blogger against her extreme diet, but she refused to listen to their concerns, which eventually proved fatal.
One person commented on a recent Instagram post: “This is just pure starvation, not a healthy raw vegan diet. I’m sorry to hear it ended badly. I wish I could have helped you out of your eating disorder.” – August 1, 2023